I’m looking forward to 2019, and I’ve got a number of projects lined up. I’m planning to do a couple of big blogathons relating to horror fiction, and I’m also hoping to make the break into vlogging and/or podcasting. Then we have Midnight Widows, my comic series; I’d hoped to run a crowdfunding campaign in 2018, but alas, didn’t manage it. So I’m going to move heaven and hell to get the thing up and running in 2019.

I’m intrigued by debates over where, or whether, a line should be drawn when it comes to the ethics of producing (in some debates, looking at) visual art. I’m fascinated at how an image can be completely innocuous to one observer, but an abomination to another.

I’m also interested in how debates over offensive art can serve as barometers of the times. Some images retain their infamy for years to come, but in other cases the offense is fleeting and swiftly forgotten about. With that in mind, I decided put together a chronological ranking of twelve images that, for one reason or another, stirred up controversy in 2018…

A while back I posted scans from a 1990s vampire fanzine called Pernicious Anaemia (see here and here). Well, now it’s time for another offering from my zine stash: another vampire fanzine, this time issue #7 of Crimson, official newsletter of a group called Thee (sic) Vampire Guild. The issue lacks a date, but appears to have been published in mid-1992.

Here’s a stocking-filler for you all! Bernice Summerfield: In Time, an anthology of short stories (including one by me) starring the former Doctor Who companion, is out now and can be ordered from the Big Finish website in physical, digital and audio formats.

The book contains a set of short stories set at various different points in Benny’s life, from her youth to her octogenarian years, making it both a treat for long-time fans and an all-round introduction for newcomers to the character (for those unaware, Benny was introduced in the 1990s Virgin novels and became popular enough to star in her own line of spin-offs; she even guest starred in a novel about the Capaldi Doctor).

The writing team includes Dave Stone, Mark Clapham, Simon Guerrier, Antonio Rastelli, Victoria Simpson, James Goss and Peter Anghelides. My own contribution to the book is “The Bunny’s Curse”, a story about a teenage Benny’s trials and tribulations in military academy. The volume was edited by Xanna Eve Chown, who was a pleasure to work with.

So, whether you’re a fan or a newcomer, I hope that you’ll give Bernice Summerfield: In Time a look…

I’m proud to announce that my first book, due for publication next May, is now available for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk (but not yet Amazon US). It’s an entry in Auteur Publishing’s Devil’s Advocates series, a line of books discussing classics of horror cinema, with each volume covering a specific film – if you’ve come across the BFI’s film guides, you’ll know the general idea. Past contributors to the series include the likes of I. Q. Hunter, Calum Waddell and the late James Marriott, and I’m honoured to be joining their ranks.

I was offered the opportunity of writing the first Devil’s Advocate to cover a Universal classic, and I decided to go with The Mummy. Why that film, rather than Dracula or Frankenstein? Well, in large part because mummies – as a horror theme – have had considerably less written about them than other monsters such as vampires, werewolves or zombies. I was interested in placing mummy movies in their original context as a reflection of weird fiction which, in turn, reflected nineteenth- and early-twentieth century interest in Egyptology – and what better case study than the original 1932 The Mummy?

I’ve got a few projects I hope to launch next year, and amongst these is a YouTube channel of my very own!

Right now I have two vlog series in mind. One, The History of British Horror, will be a scholarly and in-depth bit of vloggin’ where I cover the titular subject as it has developed since The Castle of Otranto. Each episode will pick a specific topic from a specific decade, stretching from the 1760s to the 2010s.

The other series, Paperback Pits, will be a looser and more lighthearted affair. It’ll be a review show about horror, trash and exploitation paperbacks from the seventies, eighties and thereabouts.

Before I can start vlogging I’ll need to set things up, and that requires cash. I’ve been steadily scraping my pennies together, and some Patreon donations would come in very handy! So, if you want to help The Doris Show to become a reality, please consider donating to my Patreon.